Deceptions

Aireon just went to a dark corner and sat in the shadows. He merely wanted to observe who were more venomous in this den of snakes. But he himself also carried venom.

Charlotte had been sitting alone in the common room and she snapped her head up when she heard someone else come in, it surprised her that he chose to sit on his own but Charlotte didn't want to interrupt him. Sighing lightly Charlotte smudged the charcoal on her canvas before swapping back to pencil, it rolled over to where the guy was sitting.

Great. Charlotte thought.

Moving over to him Charlotte bent down swiftly, picked up her pencil and smiled gently at the boy.

"Sorry about that, I hope I didn't disturb you."

Aireon merely picked up the charcoal and gave it back to her.

"No problem. I was getting bored anyway," He replied. He then got up and walked over to the canvas.

"You're an artist?" he asked. "I also have a few works of my own."

Charlotte smiled, at least he wasn't mad at her, you could never be too careful in this common room, one of her fellow Slytherins might be having a bad day and you're speared on the end of their poison fangs.

" I am yes. I've been one for a while now...what things do you like to draw with? Pastels? Charcoal? Just graphite?"

Charlotte sat back down in her seat, crossed her legs and rested her arms on the armchair.

"I'm Charlotte by the way, Charlotte Matthews."

"I just like graphite and sometimes pastel. Name's Aireon Thiren," he replied. "Is it always this gloomy here?" Aireon asked.

"Pleasure to meet you Aireon."

Charlotte smiled and patted the seat next to her in a gesture for him to sit there, after all, it couldn't hurt to get to know the guy a little better, she might make a new friend.

"Oh yes...it's always this gloomy, always this quiet too...what else would you expect from a Snakes Lair though?"

She grinned

Aireon accepted the seat. This may not be so bad He thought to himself.

"I don't know. I've seen some very lively temples for snake gods on my travels. So, what do you like to draw?" He asked. This may be my first friend.

Charlotte looked at Aireon with surprise on her face, she wondered where he could have travelled, she would have loved to travel places, to the Orient, to America even! Yet something...always held her back.

"Oh really? Tell me, where have you been?"

Charlotte beamed, now art, there was a subject she could get her teeth into.

"Normally I'm a realist, I like to draw portraits or landscapes none of this modernist cubism type of take on stuff. How about you?"

"First question, all over the world. Second, I like to draw images from my memories or from my imagination," Aireon said. He then got up and took out of his rucksack a pad of paper.

"Here are just afew," he said as he flipped through them. One featured the Himalayas. Another was of a battlefield with dead bodies all around and one lone, scarred person with a crystal sword standing in the middle of it, but he only flashed that one before moving on to the next. The drawings varied from realistic to fantasy.

Charlotte looked at his pictures, they were quite good, especially once featuring a mountain landscape Charlotte really liked that one but her eyes flicked to a picture that Aireon only showed her briefly.

"They're all very good."

She smiled, she truly meant it, she wasn't just being polite.

"So, are you a late transfer I don't think I've seen you around?"

"Yeah, I came here to learn wand magic," Aireon replied. "There's not just magic with or without wands. there is also sword magic and staff magic."

Charlotte's ears pricked up when she heard that, she knew that you could perform magic without a wand but to do it through another medium she had never even considered. She tucked a strand of her white hair behind her ear and looked intently at Aireon through her crimson eyes.

"I've never heard of that type of magic before...is it hard to do?"

Staff magic is really quite simple. Sword magic, however, is only easy to those born with a certain magical gene which I happen to have," he replied. It was why he isolated himself alot of the time. "It has its downsides like you see things in a different way than most, so you are often shunned."

Charlotte listened intently, the magic that she had most wanted to learn she couldn't she wasn't born with the genes. Sighing unhappily Charlotte curled up on the chair and poked her head out of the ball she curled up in to look at Aireon.

"Well, you're not shunned by me, anyone who likes art is alright in my books."

Wanting to keep conversation going Charlotte asked.

"So, what else do you like to do?"

Aireon suddenly went rigid. Could it be? he thought.

"This is the first time some one hasn't shunned me," he said. "In answer to your question, I like to walk around the Black Lake."

"Don't feel bad about not having the gene for sword magic. I said that it is easy to those born with the gene, but other people can learn it. I could teach you if you want," he offered.

"R-r-really?"

Charlotte asked, crawling out of the ball she was sitting in to look incredulously at Aireon her eyes wide and a smile splashing across her face.

"I would love to learn."

She chuckled and she held out her hand for him to shake, the drawn in heart standing out against her pale skin.

Aireon extended his own hand, ignoring the heart on her hand. He momentarily forgot about the dragon burn on his own.

"What's with the heart?" he asked as curiosity got the better of him.

Charlotte's smile jarred a little bit, she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and coughed lightly.

"It's a long story, but, since we're friends right, I should tell you?"

She asked, mostly for reassurance, she wouldn't tell everything that had happened to her, not unless he asked about the bite marks running up and down her arms too.

"Well my mum, she got me a present for going to Hogwarts, it was a heart, my Dad's in a box, they didn't get on you see. She told me, that I'd be next. So I have this heart on my hand to remind me to get stronger."

"I'm sorry about that," Aireon replied. Since she told me, I may as well tell her.

"You see this," he said as he lifted his palm to show a dragon shaped burn. "I got this while helping my dad. He was a dragon trainer, and I helped him and his blacksmith friend. I was three, and I touched a crystal sword the friend was working on. It marked me, and that is how I got this and my sword."

Aireon held up his hand, and summoned it. The handle was ruby and emerald coiled around each other, and the hilt was amethyst. The sword was in a sheath of gold.

"Now, I'll teach you the way of the Sword Sorcerers."

He then chanted in an ancient language, and a sword materialized right before Charlotte's eyes.

Charlotte smiled gently at Aireon and looked at the burn on his hand, she gingerly held her hand out and lightly traced the burn thinking it was kind of cool the way that it was shaped like a dragon. She let her fingers move from his hand and she stared at his sword, if the Headmaster knew!!

"Thank you...by the way, not many people would do this for me. If there is anything I can do for you?"

Charlotte smiled goofily and ruffled her White hair, winking with one of her red eyes closed.

"Just live your life and be content is all I can ask, Milady," Aireon replied bowing in a ostentatious way.

"Your sword," he said as he handed her the sword he created. "You will discover your own potential in time. For now, just practice actual sword fighting."

"So, how about you show me some of your works of art? You don't have to if you don't want to,"

Charlotte blushed a little when Aireon bowed to her she still wasn't really used to getting treated like this so she had to fight to keep her hair from turning a shade of pink. She smiled lightly and greatfully took the sword from Aireon, placing it on the sofa next to her.

"Of course you can, it's the least I could do for you."

She motioned for him to stay put and she ran up to the dorm, grabbed her latest sketch of the Hogwarts landscape and brought it down for Aireon to see. Showing it to him she blushed once more.

"Do you have a nickname Aireon?"

"I was once called the White Shadow. The reason being because no one ever saw me until I spoke, and also because I wore all white. But you can call me Ren."

"This is amazing," he said as he admired the Hogwarts landscape. "You really are talented."

Charlotte blushed again, she smiled sheepishly at Aireon and she placed the canvas next to her sword when something occurred to her, she wanted to give him his own nickname especially from her. Charlotte sighed and lay down on the sofa looking happily at Aireon.

"Would you mind if I called you Air?"

Charlotte thought that was a good nickname but she didn't want to make him uncomfortable.

"You can call me anything you want. I have a lot of nicknames."

"How about Char? Air is fine by me," he replied.

"Getting cozy?" he teased as she laid down on the sofa. He was glad she felt able to relax around him. No one ever had been able too. He then took his sword and pointed it at the fireplace. A warm fire sputtered to life.